Not all heroes wear capes. But for some reason Phil Hellmuth did on Day 1A of the WSOP Main Event.
See for yourself...
FRIDAY, JULY 3
Need some help with your Pick 3 team? Here are five players taking big stacks through to Day 2 of the Main Event.
We're still not 100% sure why he's called 'JNandez': But now we know a lot more about how he became a PLO guru.
Who needs the World Cup? 15 different countries have tasted WSOP success so far this summer. Can you name them all?
"I f***ing did that!": Caitlin Comeskey is having a breakthrough summer.
Doug Polk steps back from The Lodge: "While I'll remain a shareholder, I will no longer have any active role or involvement with The Lodge."
Andrew Moreno leads final 14 in $3K Freezeout NLH: Moreno was the only player to end the day with an eight-figure stack, as he bagged 11,955,000. Chris Moorman is still in with a stack of 3,140,000, followed by Martin Jacobson with 2,145,000. They'll return to play for the bracelet and $683,830 tomorrow at 12pm.
Omar Sader
Japan's Daisuke Ogita wins $1K Mini Main Event ($1,000,000): The Big One started today while the Mini Main Event ended, with Ogita coming out on top of a field of 12,560 entries.
Alicia Skillman
Patrick Stacey wins $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw ($223,177): He beat Danny Tang heads-up to win his first WSOP bracelet. Mark Gregorich was third.
DOMINIC IAQUINTO
No bracelet for Chainsaw: Allen Kessler has been eliminated in fourth place in the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw event. Danny Tang still has the chip lead but Patrick Stacey is right on his shoulder. Mark Gregorich is third.
DOMINIC IAQUINTO
Martin Kabrhel wins his 6th WSOP bracelet: He drew a huge rail and was equal parts moody and joyous, but he beat Krista Gifford heads-up to win the gold.
Hippo power: Martin Kabrhel is heads-up for his sixth bracelet and has taken the chip lead from Krista Gifford in the $3,200 WSOP online/live event. A fan just gave him a giant cuddly hippo, and he now thinks he's unbeatable.
First bracelet for Chainsaw? He's currently on his dinner break and sitting third of six in the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball event. Danny Tang leads the way.
DOMINIC IAQUINTO
Martin Kabrhel down to final 3: He's a long way away from the Main Event stream so you can't hear him if you're watching that, but he's down to the final three in the hybrid/live online event – the $3,200 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller – and he's not winning it quietly.
Negreanu talks after eighth bracelet win: "I’ve always said that I’m at the top of tier 2 [of PLO], but I might have elevated myself to the bottom of tier 1 now." Read our full report below.
Watch the WSOP Main Event for free: If you're in the US, the Main Event is now streaming on ESPN+. If you're not in the US? It's free on the WSOP YouTube channel.
"I had nothing!" – Negreanu celebrates his eighth bracelet win and reveals that he bluffed Martirosian in two huge pots heads-up. The celebrations are really something – he really loves winning.
Ali Nejad and Nick Schulman clock in for the night shift: Everyone's favorite commentary duo is back in the booth for the Main Event – and the action is streaming live now on ESPN+.
Daniel Negreanu wins 8th WSOP bracelet: The Canadian triumphed over a field of 80 entrants in the $100K PLO High Roller to add to his already-impressive WSOP resume.
With the win, Negreanu adds $2,517,718 to his career earnings – and now finds himself in the black for the summer series after being down more than half a million.
Negreanu defeated Artur Martirosian during heads-up play to close out the win.
THURSDAY, JULY 2
Negreanu in the driver's seat: With the elimination of Yosuke Miki in fifth place, the $100K PLO High Roller is down to just four players – and Daniel Negreanu holds a big chip lead.
- Daniel Negreanu - 21.5M (72 BBs)
- Artur Martirosian - 11.5M (38 BBs)
- Philip Sternheimer - 10.7M (36 BBs)
- Chris Frank - 8.6M (29 BBs)
Jeff Platt hunting down his next victims: Talk to Platt at your own peril!
Seiver off to a good start: Bad news for anyone in the WSOP Main Event Day 1A field who gets moved to his table.
Mini Main down to three-handed play: There's been a frenzy of activity on the Mini Main Event final table and only three players remain from the nine who started the day.
Jeffrey Evans holds a slim leads with 112M chips while Daisuke Ogita sits just behind him on 92.5M.
Jaehwa Son rounds out the counts with 64.5M.
Mizrachi starts the Main Event party: 2025 WSOP Main Event champion Michael Mizrachi stepped up to the microphone earlier today to kick off Day 1A of the Main Event by uttering the words we've all been waiting to hear: "Shuffle Up and Deal."
/ WSOP
It's showtime: The cards are in the air for Day 1A of the WSOP Main Event – and we've got a bust out already, stay tuned for more details.
Daniel Negreanu's latest vlog is all about the four-card streets: After battling throughout Day 2 of the $100K PLO High Roller, Negreanu bagged up a near chip lead stack and will return today to fight for his 8th bracelet as one of only five players left in the hunt.
Roll the tape below to see how he did it.
It's finally here: The WSOP Main Event, the crown jewel of the summer series, kicks off today.
While there's a long way to go until a winner is crowned, you won't want to miss out on any of the action – read below to find out where, when, and how you can watch along.
We've got another bonus final table on our hands today: The WSOP Online NLH High Roller is down to a final table which will play out live later today at 4:00pm in the Paris Ballroom – and fan favorite Martin Kabrhel is in the mix.
WSOP Day 38: It's here. The WSOP Main Event kicks off today with action in Day 1A – but there's plenty of other events to keep an eye on as well.
The $1,000 Mini Main Event is down to just 9 remaining players from a field of 12,560. Amin Mostafavi leads the pack in the hunt for the $1M first-place prize.
Daniel Negreanu is one of five remaining players in the $100K PLO High Roller and sits second in the chip counts, trailing only slightly to Chris Frank.
Hayley Hochstetler
In the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball, only 18 players remain – including chip leader Danny Tang, Eli Elezra, and Allen Kessler. They'll play down to a winner today.
The $600 Deepstack Championship NLH rolls into Day 2 action today. 556 players remain from a field of 5,177.
Day 2 play in the $3,000 Freezeout NLH kicks off today. With 226 players remaining, there's a long way to go. Chris Moorman and Andrew Moreno take Top 10 stacks into the day.
The field in the $10K 8-Game Mixed Championship was whittled down to 73 players throughout Day 1. Chris Vitch, Naoya Kihara, and Bryce Yockey are all in the Top 10 in the chip counts.
Alongside the Main Event, we've got two other tournaments kicking off today: the $800 Summer Celebration and the $1,500 Double Board Bomb Pot PLO.
Do we need more WSOP women's events? And a separate Women's PoY race?
An interesting idea from Kitty Kuo...
Who will you choose for your free WSOP Main Event Pick 3 team? Here are 5 players we think are worth looking at.
And yes, that's who you think it is. Hear us out...
Mixed Triple Draw returns with 18. The $2,500 buy-in will enter its final day with Chi Tang at the top. They'll play to a winner on Thursday.
A few leaders:
- Chi Tang - 2.6M
- AJ Kelsall - 2.3M
- Eli Elezra - 1.6M
- Mark Gregorich - 1.6M
- Arthur Morris - 1.5M
- Ryan Ko - 1.1M
A few others:
- Allen Kessler - 830K
- Brian Yoon - 500K
Mini Main turns for home. 12,560 entries are now down to the final nine. Can anyone catch Jeffrey Evans?
- Jeffrey Evans - 140M
- Akira Ide - 84M
- Yunye Liu - 42M
- Ohad Enzel - 41M
- Richard Harris - 31.5M
- Daisuke Ogita - 31M
- Jaehwa Son - 26M
- Jaime Haletky - 23.5M
- Amin Mostafavi - 7.5M
Five left for big $100K PLO finale. Check out our full story, with Daniel Negreanu's shot at an 8th WSOP bracelet.
A dozen years later: Chicago's own Matt 'Grapes' Grapenthien is finally a champion again after a 12-year wait in the $10K Stud Championship. He won his first bracelet in this event in 2014.
- Matt Grapenthien - $415,648
- Jack Germaine - $277,087
- Maxx Coleman - $191,165
- Walter Chambers - $135,065
- Caitlin Comeskey - $97,785
- Chris Brewer - $72,587
- Mark Rubbathan - $55,282
Six-Max Winner: Markus Gonsalves beat Xiaoyao 'Jasper' Ma to wrap up the $5K Six-Max. A flopped ace allowed Gonsalves to beat pocket kings and take a stranglehold on the match in the biggest pot of the night.
- Markus Gonsalves - $979,655
- Xiaoyao Ma - $653,037
- Jeremy Izquierdo - $460,256
- Daniel Rezaei - $328,810
- Dominykas Mikolaitis - $238,152
- Joshua Bolton - $174,909
Heads-up in $10K Seven Card Stud: There are two players left here, too, with Matthew Grapenthien (7M) and Jack Germaine (4.4M) currently playing for the bracelet. Caitlin Comeskey went out in 5th for $97,785.
$5K 6-Max heads-up: It's Markus Gonsalves (43 million) vs. Xiaoyao 'Jasper' Ma (26 million) for all the marbles. You can watch the conclusion to this on the WSOP livestream now.
Fantasy Pick 3 for the 2026 Main Event: Pick a team of three players for the 2026 WSOP Main Event, and if your team cashes for the most money, you'll win a $5K Moneymaker Tour package to Aruba. It's free to play, only on PokerOrg. Get involved now – deadline: July 6 at 11am PT.
When dealers get startled: This has got to be worth a five-star rating.
Jeremy Ausmus eliminated from $100K PLO in 8th ($259,047): Artur Martirosian still leads with Daniel Negreanu on his shoulder.
Hayley Hochstetler
Baby Shark making a Mini Main Event run: 30 players remain in the $1K Mini Main and Christina Gollins has a top-ten stack of 20 milllion. There's $1,000,000 up top. The final table plays tomorrow.
Tyler Abrams
Unofficial final table set for $100K PLO: The remaining nine players are on their dinner break and will return for Level 17. Four more levels are scheduled to be played today.
- Artur Martirosian: 14.3M
- Daniel Negreanu: 11.5M
- Sean Winter: 6.1M
- Jeremy Ausmus: 5.3M
- Philip Sternheimer: 5.0M
- Sergio Martinez Gonzalez: 2.4M
- Yosuke Miki: 2.4M
- Robert Cowen: 1.9M
- Chris Frank: 1.1M
What a smoke show: The 2026 WSOP Main Event starts tomorrow and officials are testing the lights and the smoke machine, which has made the Mothership look more like a rave than a poker space. Spare a thought for the players on the final table of the $10K Seven Card Stud.
Naoya Kihara bubbles the $100K PLO: He was one of the 21 players who max late-regged and almost nursed his short stack into the money. Artur Martirosian took the last of his chips after making trip nines on the river. Two more players have since gone – Joao Simao (13th) and Jonathan Depa (12th), with both getting $204,938.
Travis P Ball
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1
Final seven set in $10K Seven Card Stud: Koji Fujimoto and Matt Vengrin have been been eliminated in ninth and eighth, respectively. Caitlin Comeskey is rocking the short stack, but she's still alive and at yet another WSOP final table.
DOMINIC IAQUINTO
Numbers way down in WSOP $100K PLO: Late registration has closed and, as expected, the numbers are well down on 2025. Last year, the event attracted 121 entries; this year it finished with 83.
That means first prize has dropped from $2,957,229, won by Shaun Deeb in 2025, to $2,257,718 in 2026. Artur Martirosian still leads the field, with 18 players remaining and 13 set to be paid.
Registration window slamming shut on $100K. The clock is paused while they get everything in order.
We're so back: Peyton and Eli Manning are ready for WSOP Main Event coverage on ESPN – are you?
PLO really is his jam: Watch Daniel Negreanu bag up a monster stack in the $100K PLO High Roller.
